Each morning an intensivist (consultant in intensive care medicine) will review each of the patients in turn. Several other members of the critical care team will usually be present for this review including nurses, physiotherapists and trainee doctors. This daily review is often referred to as ‘the ward round’.
When visiting your loved one, you may see further ward rounds at other times of the day. These are often much briefer and involve fewer people. Doctors will review the patient’s observations and discuss their progress with their bedside nurse. Such reviews commonly occur during a change of doctor on shift, with the previous doctors handing over the patient’s care to the incoming team.
Patients in critical care are often under the ‘shared care’ of an intensivist and another specialty consultant (haematologist, surgeon, cardiologist etc) who may include the patient on their own specialty ward round.
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